Peter de Villiers has named a Bok side to take on England showing only two changes to the unit that went down to Scotland last weekend. Resisting the urge to give in-form players a go, the coach is sticking to his guns, claiming that he wants to stick with the “tried and tested”.

So, to summarise, that means that the “tried and tested” Deon Stegmann will enjoy another opportunity to demonstrate just how out of his depth he is in the test arena, as he enjoys a fourth successive start. Not bad for a guy who played hardly any Currie Cup and was not selected in the original tour group. Pierre Spies is back in at number 8 for Ryan Kanowski, with many pundits rating the hairy Sharks man as one of the few players to emerge from the Murrayfield debacle with any credit. There is still no room for Willem Alberts in the starting team, nor for Keegan Daniel in the match 22.

The other change to the run-on team comes at scrumhalf, where Ruan Pienaar comes in for Francois Hougaard in a completely meaningless change. Both players failed to accomplish anything of note last week and seemed to be having a personal competition to see who could kick away good ball most often. The tried and tested Morne Steyn is preferred again at flyhalf to Pat Lambie, meaning the Boks will again try and test the same (failed) kick-chase gameplan that has brought them such stunning success all season long.

The only glimmer of hope is that Lwazi Mvovo has retained his position on the left wing – I’m not naive enough to think that the reason for that is anything other than that they couldn’t find a Bulls player in the tour group to replace him with. None of Charl McLeod, Odwa Ndunange or Bandise Maku has been brought into the match 22, of course.

He could’ve brought out a completely different side full of potential yougnsters and when he lost he could’ve held up his hands and said “judge me at the world cup, we never expected to win these end of season games”. And he would’ve survived.

But he gambled and brought out every vet he had available. And he lost. Why not throw caution to the wind now and blood some youngsters?
He sees fit to throw Lambie to the wolves in two pressure cooker games but is unwilling to start somebody like Willem Alberts?

If we lose to the English and the French put 15+ past the Wallabies we’ll be waking up Monday morning ranked 5th in the world.

Comment 22, posted at 23.11.10 14:18:14 by VinChainSaw

Kirchner and Stegmann should be out. Enough chances and not shown anything at all. I mean what else does Kirchner do other than the up and under? Frans Steyn at 15, JDV 13 and Lambie 12. Keegan to replace Stegmann.

Well that’s the thing dude. If I had even an inkling that he had a plan I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. But he doesnt.

Comment 28, posted at 23.11.10 14:24:03 by VinChainSaw

We all know what the Poms will do…bombard Aplon with high crossfield kicks. Hope the Boks are prepared for that.

Also we’ll have to watch Ben Youngs VERY carefully…the guy is lightening from the base and loves to make breaks, aswell as take quick tap penalties. Wish Ruan would test the defence a bit more, he’s become predictable!!

This isnt your usual English side – they’re pumped and they have some good youngsters coming through.

The other issue is that English sport is built on confidence. When they’re up they’re really up and when they’re down they’re useless.

I can see a hiding.
The most concerning thing for me at the moment is the abject lack of tries from SA. 1 back-line try in three games? If you cant even score through line-breaks against Scotland what chances doe you have against England, an historically defensively orientated side?

@Villie (Comment 29) : I don’t think England will be kicking much. They have a really good back three, they’ll be using our kicks as counter attack all day long. At least the boks can still defend so I don’t see a 53 – 3 here.

Rob agree, not sure why the heck Stegmann is starting once again, he is totally not up to it. We just gonna kick, kick and that is about all.

I would have just gone for broke and gone for all out attack, played Lambie at Fh, McLeod at scrummie, Alberts on at 8 Keegan at 6 and also brought in Adi for 13. Put Fransie on at FB. Maybe with those players there we might keep more possession and who knows we could have caught England guessing. They know we just gonna come out and just kick every damn ball we get.

You missed off a few mate. Why not also select Hargreaves, Sykes… actually why not just select the whole Sharks side while you’re at it?
We complain that Matfield seems to be favouring his Bulletjie team-mates but then make ourselves guilty of the same prejudice.

Comment 53, posted at 23.11.10 14:42:03 by VinChainSaw

@VinChainSaw (Comment 53) : Its not about prejudice its about form players from the currie cup!

@VinChainSaw (Comment 55) : uhmmmmm yeah at this point steyn is pretty much useless at 13! Why not give him a run?

Comment 56, posted at 23.11.10 14:52:51 by Ben

@Letgo (Comment 41) : I think they will. Flood will put high bombs on our wings…just like the Welsh did to score one of their tries. Yes they do have a good back 3…but 10-12-13 are nothing special at all. They have a quality 9 and decent forwards. Cueto is not that quick but is in good form. Ashton is very dangerous if we miss our first time tackles and Foden is a very good counter attacker!!

Comment 57, posted at 23.11.10 14:57:07 by Villie

@VinChainSaw (Comment 53) : No just those changes will do, the rest are fine

Look buddy, those are the players on tour, so who else to select hey? They will at least try to keep possession and not kick everything away.

has never been so frustrated in a while, but piet helium has lost the plot. steggies is a waste and so is kirchner. would have started with lambie,mvovo,de villiers,adi,aplon and frans at fullback. the other thing that worries me is that when we are under pressure and victor can’t keep the team calm. we will be under a lot more pressure come this weekend.

Comment 61, posted at 23.11.10 15:12:24 by butchboy

@butchboy (Comment 61) : Victor can’t keep the team calm, because he can’t keep himself calm.

The less said about Piet Helium the better. It will be one seriously happy day when I hear that he has been fired and instructed to take his useless cohorts with him. Much the same as it pleased me when Straueli got told to bugger off.

Bismarck is missing Matfield coz Matfield is playing on the centre position again..

Comment 65, posted at 23.11.10 15:27:30 by Ice-Cool CC Champ 2010

Man oh man, I cannot actually believe that PDV has gone and done it again! How is it possible to be so glaringly ignorant? Seriously, Stegmann, Kirchner and both Steyns? This should be the golden era od Springbok rugby with all the depth we have and here we are contemplating 5th in the world!

Comment 66, posted at 23.11.10 15:37:19 by zenrugby

GO BOKKE!

Comment 67, posted at 23.11.10 15:40:56 by Big Fish

@zenrugby (Comment 66) : Like Bru like you know you can’t like call yourself like zenrugby and then like emit such a negative aura like….no offence like intended.

Comment 68, posted at 23.11.10 15:50:38 by Dive Pass

Seriously…. not happy with the team but will support them on Saturday.

I am sure will all read in some one’s book one day who is really running the Bok show and then we can ask some 47 year old lady from Pretoria to date them.

Comment 69, posted at 23.11.10 15:54:32 by Dive Pass

we’re all going to support them – of course we are! You don’t have to like the way they’re playing to support them

Comment 70, posted at 23.11.10 15:55:45 by robdylan

@Dive Pass (Comment 68) : None taken! Sometimes what is perceived as negative is just the damn truth, ill get back to my PDiv mantras now..

Comment 71, posted at 23.11.10 16:03:39 by zenrugby

I have this funny feeling the Boks are going to have a brilliant game….they’re due one else they will become consistantly bad….and they are never consistant at anything

They are a decent side but also still a work in progress. They had a good day at the office against the Aussies but also a fair amount of luck. Imagine if O’Connor had his kicking boots on, they may have been forced to play catch up. I make the Poms 60/40 favourites based on our non existent backline and them playing at home!

I have kept faith ..even after Scotland I eventually recovered ..but now Im not so sure anymore…Id be more than happy to be proved wrong…

What a frickin shame all these younsters coming through should have been joining up during a domaniating phase, if 2009 was anything to go by.

I forsee a certain lock being given a red and 50 points too England …no wait ..oh yes !

Trust me they are going to target him out of the game one way or another..

A opportunity is being missed here

Boks by 10

Comment 79, posted at 23.11.10 16:33:42 by CSB Aplon's Biggest Fan !

@zenrugby (Comment 71) : We all seem to a have a bit of 2006 deja vu here, save that De Villier’s case of foot in mouth disease makes Jake’s look like his foot was a country mile away from his mouth. Also there appears to be no equivalent of Eddie Jones on the horizon, as no one wants to get any where near de Villiers with his very footy smelling breath and great uncertainty as to who is actually running a show that does seem to have a game plan that is working.

To my mind both the Ireland victory and the second half of the Wales match were those Bok “gees” victories where passion wins the game and can’t be sustained over a number of matches.

Under-fire Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has insisted that although the team were bitterly disappointed with their loss to Scotland, they are not going to ‘panic’ and make any dramatic changes this weekend against England.

You say you won’t make panic changes.
I say you are as thick as a 2 x 4. Actually even a 2 x 4 would know that he needs to give the form players a run.

You are sticking with the tried and tested. Only thing is half of them failed the test, but you haven’t managed to analyse the results yet.

I see PDivvy did not follow my advice regarding the team composition, which advise was well researched, analysed, thought through and deprived of any provincial biased. Hence shall i reserve the right to criticise if the performance is not satisfactory

Comment 97, posted at 23.11.10 17:51:52 by rekinek

@rekinek (Comment 97) : oh did I mentioned that I did brainstorming and conducted tests on samples

Comment 98, posted at 23.11.10 17:52:59 by rekinek

Would somebody know to what extent Pdiv uses video analysis as a coaching and strategic aid?

Lol. No not really.
I know Jake (and Rassie and Robbie Deans and Graham Henry for example) spent hours and hours using it as a tool.

I just wonder if PDV spends his evenings working with the technology.
Actually I just wonder if he can sit still for long enough!

Comment 102, posted at 23.11.10 18:05:41 by VinChainSaw

@VinChainSaw (Comment 99) : well – at the press conference, he and Victor made numerous references to “watching the video” before commenting on anything. Maybe they’d visited their local Blockbuster before the game, though and couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel for a quiet night in with some popcorn and a good flick.

Comment 103, posted at 23.11.10 18:08:00 by robdylan

@VinChainSaw (Comment 102) : well, we all know Jake is nothing more than a glorified video operator… isn’t that what Mallet called him?

The reaosn I ask is that my neighbour when I was a kid did loads of the analysis for Jake and he reckons Jake used to spend huge amounts of time analysing the data etc.

Now my question is as follows: if I can see the gameplan hasnt worked at all this season (IMHO because of the rule changes) through watching the game once on TV while drinking copious amounts of beer (and inbetween the swearing) how is it that they cannot see this?

Comment 105, posted at 23.11.10 18:12:37 by VinChainSaw

@VinChainSaw (Comment 102) : on a serioius note I would imagine that video analysis nowadays is a part of coaches’job. The question should really be how much is he relying on this particular tool.

I hear that Matfield himself does plenty of videowatching but it is mainly lineouts.

According to something Gavin Rich pointed out this afternoon, though, Peter feels that the problem is not the game plan per se, but rather the execution thereof. in other words, if they managed to actually execute the game plan correctly, it would work.

I think he’s dreaming. Or maybe that’s what Victor told him to say.

Comment 107, posted at 23.11.10 18:19:07 by robdylan

@rekinek (Comment 106) : the Bok video technician/analyst is Peter Maimane and Gary Gold appears to site right with him during the game. That might be because Gold is not allowed into the coaches’ box anymore, though.

Comment 108, posted at 23.11.10 18:20:13 by robdylan

@Dive Pass (Comment 80) : people tend to stick to what they know when their backs are against the wall. I think halfa the problem is PDV has gone on this tour knowinga his job is on thae line and as such hasn’t been willing to experiment. Ironically, experimenting with some youngsters might have won him a grandslam! I really don’t know what more Willem Alberts needs to do to crack the starting lineup, I think the preoccupation with a fetcher is another example of our esteemed coaches lack of understanding of how to play under the new law interpretations

Comment 109, posted at 23.11.10 18:23:57 by zenrugby

@robdylan (Comment 107) : even if the game plan is wrong. Perhaps coaching staff felt that this would be sufficient for northern hemisphere teams and conditions and decided that having grand slam at stake it is too risky to change it.

But I also feel that the execution was disappointing.
The other thing is that against Ireland Boks actually enjoyed a lot of possession despite lots of kicking, so is this game plan really that bad.

Comment 110, posted at 23.11.10 18:24:51 by rekinek

@Dive Pass (Comment 80) : hehe – perhaps we should keep Pdivvy as the head coach, just hire Eddie again

Comment 111, posted at 23.11.10 18:27:49 by rekinek

@robdylan (Comment 107) : Look if they were to actually kick an up n under that someone chasing could actually get to, I’d appreciate the game plan more but when you even have that mangy old hooker Brian Moore going on and on about the need to play possesion rugby, u start realising that our coaching staff are really missing the point.

Dude, if that is true then I fear we’re in even deeper trouble than I previously thought.

Because that 2008/09 Bok gameplan is mortally flawed.

If Rich is correct then we’d need to play at 100% with our current gameplan and the ABs could play at 50% and still win.

I just cant believe that not even 24 months since we were ahead of the game and leading the pack in innovation we are now so far off.

Its elementary that the kick and chase wont work as effectviely if you’re not allowed to compete for the ball on the ground in the same way as in the past.
Even more so when you pick a Stegman on the flank to try and poach those balls.

And Rob, f you very much, but the Ruan argument for me is now dead. I said last week I was waiting for him to have another mare. And he thankfully obliged. He simply is not a consistent enough player to be playing anything higher than provincial rugby.
I got a holkramp when you lot were going on about his tactical kicking this, tactical kicking that. He’s kak op n wolkombers.

@VinChainSaw (Comment 115) : Its actually pretty ridiculous that they can’t seem to understand that the new laws require possession rugby not even expansive rugby. I actually reckon that the new laws suit the South African player, the sharks and stormers showed it, its only at a national level that we seem to have forgotten to update the files..

Its just absolutely ridiculous. I honestly wonder how the players can be happy with this nonsense.
They come from their province playing exactly the sort of rugby they need to win and then pitch at the Bok camp and suddenly they’re nowhere.

Its pretty shameful and I dont buy the story that the very sam,e players that wer einvolved in the business end of the S14 and the CC are now suddenly not good enough. Oh thats right… the team is loaded with Bulls players that weren’t!

It really just amazes me. Did none of the Bok coaches even watch the CC/S14 and see how the Bulls came unstuck trying to play that brand of rugby?

The new brand of union being played is not a long way from league, it favours big powerful ball carriers and rewards quick ruck ball.
How can SA players not excel in such an environment?

@VinChainSaw (Comment 119) : When the sharks switched on halfway through the s14 they looked pretty invincible from there on and that was with Stephan at centre! Funny thing is, we were happy to play without a fetcher when Schalk was there, now suddenly we need one, I actually think Keegan plays more like Schalk does these days ie: as a link man which is what seems to be missing in terms of fluidity. Just another oversight from our coaching brainstrust

Comment 122, posted at 23.11.10 19:54:13 by zenrugby

@McLovin (Comment 120) :That’s the Bulls with Fourie Dupreez. They also scored a lot of tries running the ball back from broken play, very different from the bulls I saw in the currie cup.

Comment 123, posted at 23.11.10 19:58:25 by zenrugby

get rid of the coach please he is just useless in everyway he can see that we lost and the game plan must be change and players shuffel around i c we are going to loose this one 2 and then i just don’t know what we are going to do in the S15 never mind about talking about the Wc 2011 just hope we arn’t out in the 1st rd

And when most of those guys were back for the CC semis. What happened then? The Sharks thumped them.

Most of that victory should be credited to team attitude but a large portion of the credit should go the the gameplan. Suddenly someone had the cheek to be in the Bulls’ faces and it unsettled them. THAT gameplan worked again last weekend, except it worked AGAINST us last weekend.

I just want to say for the record that I actually agree with Divvy on one point. Playing Lambie on Saturday with the weather that is predicted could ruin his career. The team selection concidering the expected weather is probably the right one except for Stegmann who I would have replaced with Alberts…..so who says that I only critisize P Divvy

Comment 131, posted at 24.11.10 08:00:00 by Pokkel

Sorry to the eternal optimists, but you can no longer draw comparisons to Jake White’s tenure as coach (he took a bad team and made it the best)….but the similarities between PDVivvy and Rudolf are blindingly obvious. Can’t actually believe that we are flirting with being ranked 5! We were number 1 when PDV took over.

If a coach reliquishes control of his team to anyone (it our case it is rumoured to be Victor), and the team does badly, it is STILL the coaches fault, because he should never have given up his responsibilities.
We have no faith in the coaching staff and it appears niether do the players.

Comment 132, posted at 24.11.10 08:37:15 by Just a Fan

I dont know why people are moaning about this lineup cos we all knew before the tour that he was going to pick this team to play England, ok barring Stegman but still. The other games on tour offered the chance to blood and test youngsters but we never took that chance so its too late now. All that can be achieved is see what these players can offer so we can either put a tick or cross against their names for next year. I know the Baabaas game will be used to throw all the youngsters in. I personally think thats a bad idea if we look at the Baabaas team but hey its not like this coaching team is going to do anything itelligent anyway. And what exactly will be the benefit of seeing the youngsters in a game against the Baabaas..if they do well are they now ready for Test rugby…if they do badly are they rubbish. So i say play this same team this week and next and if the garbage then cheers to them and lets see what else we have then.